This resource provides an analysis of the potential for the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to strengthen protections for LGBTQ rights, including marriage equality.

Adopted in 1938, the New York State Constitution’s equality protections fall far short of a modern notion of equality that would protect the rights of all New Yorkers. Legislation currently pending in the New York Legislature would update the state’s constitution by prohibiting forms of discrimination that are currently unrecognized by the law.

This explainer details how the ERA, which would add an explicit guarantee of sex equality to the United States Constitution, would protect the right to abortion and the full range of reproductive healthcare and is more critically needed now than ever before.

Today the Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) released a new opinion on the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). This explainer provides a brief background, and describes the OLC opinion and its significance.

Advisory letter on the 2020 OLC Memo.